Good News Bible‘s “Now,” as in verses 1 and 25, indicates that Paul is changing the theme.
Many translations, including Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible, put “I say” after the expressions the unmarried and the widows so as to emphasize them. In these expressions the definite article the probably implies “the unmarried and widows at Corinth (about whom you wrote).” The unmarried is masculine in the Greek but could refer to both men and women, and that is how all the translations we consulted understood this phrase. However, (1) the widows must be feminine, (2) biblical Greek does not use the related word for “widowers,” and (3) throughout this passage Paul is careful to speak in a balanced way of men and women, wives and husbands. So it is possible to understand the unmarried to mean “men who are no longer married,” that is widowers, rather than the meaning “those who have not been married.” An alternative translation model will be: “Now to the men among you who are no longer married (or, widowers), I say.” Some people have thought that Paul himself was a widower; if so, this would make the end of this verse even more meaningful. It could mean “it is good for them to remain in that state, as I do myself.” If translators do not put “widowers” in the text, it can be included in a footnote. New Jerusalem Bible footnote indicates that separated couples may be included, as in verse 11.
I say may be emphasized by Paul. Later in verses 10, 12, and especially 25, he is certainly careful to distinguish between what he says on his own authority and what he says with the authority of Christ. Some translators may prefer to place the phrase I say at the beginning of the sentence; for example, “Now, I say to…” or “Now, I advise the….”
It is well is literally “it is good,” as in verse 1. The meaning is the same, but the comparative “better” (Good News Bible), which is possible even in verse 1, is more likely in the present verse. This is confirmed by the comparative expression better in verse 9, which is an unrelated word in the Greek.
As in the following verses, the main verb in the Greek is in the third person, “that they remain….” Since Paul says that he is about to speak to unmarried people, it is more logical to say “better for you…” (Good News Bible) rather than well for them ….
Remain single is more literally “remain as I also,” meaning “remain unmarried as I do myself.”
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Now, I advise those men among you who are no longer married (or, widowers) and the widows that it is better for you to continue to remain unmarried as I do myself.
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .